How the Magic just missed against Jayson Tatum, Celtics

While they had several chances, the Orlando Magic could not capitalize against the Boston Celtics inside Kia Center.

Paul George's wing triple with 1:31 put the nail in the coffin, as the Celtics escaped Orlando with a 108-97 win. Here were a few of our takeaways!

Magic had too many careless mistakes:

Magic Celtics — Nov 1, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner (22) and Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11) chase a loose ball during the second quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

If the Magic attended a Sunday afternoon life science class that required protecting an egg for the next week, they would have failed after 30 minutes.

Three nights after turnovers were the story in Toronto, they made too many hapless mistakes against a hyper-active Celtics defense. Boston does a very good job of keeping teams out of the paint; they overextend at the nail, send two defenders when backs are turned and are always good at helping the helper.

While the Magic didn't do a poor job exploiting Boston's aggressiveness at times, they looked disjointed and sped up. Orlando coughed up the rock 18 times -- including eight in the opening quarter -- which led to 21 points. Too many unforced errors kept them at bay, especially since only nine of them were live-ball takeaways.

Defensive rebounding is still an issue:

Oct 7, 2026; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) reacts during the third quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Through the first week-plus, the Magic have been one of the league's worst rebounding teams.

They entered Sunday with the fourth-worst defensive rebound percentage. Boston has been a below-average offensive rebounding team so far. But it is still aggressive on the offensive glass; Mazzulla-ball isn't just chucking threes, it's maximizing the number of possessions.

The C's were all over the offensive glass, hauling down 14 for 15 points. Orlando didn't quite match that (13 for 12 points), but finished the game with a 68.1 defensive rebound rate, according to Cleaning The Glass, winning the possession battle with three more shot attempts and seven more free-throw attempts.

Point Franz continues to see the floor well:

One silver lining was (Point) Franz Wagner, who defenses have continually keyed in on the last week.

The German wing continued to take advantage of the hand given to him. He didn't have the most efficient afternoon, shooting just 5-of-20, though Wagner accounted for half (12) of the team's 24 assists, turning the ball over just thrice -- one on an illegal screen.

Wagner has seen the floor well all season; he's not forcing the issue in ball screens or when he's attacking closeouts. His handle isn't always tight, but he's patient, and his teammates have capitalized.

Magic go ice-cold in fourth:

Orlando had multiple opportunities to either tie or take the lead at the start of the fourth quarter. But it shot just 29.2 percent in the period (7-24), including just 3-for-8 inside the restricted area (!!) and 2-for-9 from 3-point range.

The worst part was that the C's run was largely led by their second unit. Back-to-back threes from Desmond Bane and Tristan da Silva, plus one Bane steal-and-score, cut it once-12-point lead to four, but it evidently wasn't enough to mount a late comeback.

Magic's backup big situation is bleak:

Orlando has essentially gotten no production from Goga Bitadze and Nikola Vucevic. Vooch has provided some floor spacing, but neither have been effective defensively or on the glass. Vucevic had two points and four rebounds in seven minutes, while Bitadze went scoreless with just one rebound in 4:14.

That's an issue. Carter had a decent game with seven points and 10 boards, but both the backups will need to be better moving forward.

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